Police consulted hydrologists, botanists, feral animal experts and geo-technicians to determine areas to search and which areas to excavate.

"We had searched the tobacco-drying sheds, we searched the shed, we had searched the area where the demountable had been, we had excavated where the carpet [from the demountable] had been buried and we located the carpet," Inspector Van Panhuis said.

"There was a well on the site. We obtained specialists to search the well. No items were located.

"We used metal detectors during this time as well. We also used cadaver dogs on several occasions to provide us with some assistance."

Water was also pumped from a small pond on the site and 500 cubic metres of sand was ultimately removed from the search area and hand-sieved.

A fox den was found and also excavated, but nothing of interest was found.

Mr Cowan has been charged with one count each of murder, indecently dealing with a child under the age of 16 and unlawfully dealing with a corpse.